Marc Cucurella

[Thenumber1blue]

Won't be this season.

Really ?
As it stands they had a better squad last season, unless you're giving them points for ifs and buts

 

[Keepingthefaithsince1976]

Why indecision with those two?

Mendy was down to injury and alleged offences and Zinch wanted to move on, what could we do? The latter should not have been allowed to leave until we had our replacement.

Hey?

 

[moomba]

The weirdest thing here is that BHA got Cucurella for £15m. How can we not spot players like that! The mark up on him is ridiculous. One half decent season for a mid table premier league club and its £50m+ talk about prem tax!

We didn't have a need for a LB last year.

 

[Keeper!]

Hey?

Sorry misread what you said, we certainly should not have let Zincheko leave without a signing coming in (LB)

 

[Keeper!]

We didn't have a need for a LB last year.

we did and , Mendy was useless, and Walker had no rotation because Cancelo was always playing LB

 

[Keepingthefaithsince1976]

I genuinely think its just not our market.
We either sign ready to go first teamers that will keep us at the top or we sign youth players that can do 1-2 years in EDS or at a CFG club before selling them on for profit.

We don’t look at “bargains” because they are a risk no matter what. £15m is a bloody big risk to take if you arent certain they’ll be good enough. Put 2 or 3 in and the squad quality starts to drop off affecting training, reducing opportunities to EDS, filling spaces for future signings etc.

Brighton or similar can do it because a £15m player is likely to improve their squad or at least not weaken it and gives them upside if he delivers.

They are all good points but consider this. If a player is at a la liga side and his contract is only 1 or 2 years remaining there is the chance of a bargain....if the players character, professionalism, hunger, will to join City and fight for a place, work ethic, etc etc are up to scratch. Price is higher for Cucu because he has 4 years on his contract. Its possible to get an equally competant player for less as long as player standards are acceptable.

 

[moomba]

we did and , Mendy was useless, and Walker had no rotation because Cancelo was always playing LB

IMO we had a need for a RB to backup Walker. Cancelo was premier league left back of the season, and despite now not being good enough according to some issn extremely good player at LB.

 

[Perseus]

Not sure I agree with you mate.

Their pitch to promising, young, talented players and their agents is ‘come to Brighton, play every week in the PL, showcase your talent and if you get the opportunity for a move to a bigger club, we won’t stand in your way’.

There are plenty of recent quotes to exactly that effect from people at Brighton - David Weir being the most recent.

What they’re showing with Cucurella is that they blocked a move to his first choice (the Champions) even after a transfer request with a valuation the player and agent feel was unreasonable. They paid £15m for him, and apparently we were offering £40m - that’s almost triple their money in a year.

The agent then found an alternative move to another CL club, and they’re blocking that at the moment with an even more unreasonable set of demands.

If you don’t think ambitious players and agents will be watching this very closely, and simply won’t trust what Brighton are telling them in future - I think you’re being naive.

Why go there when you can go to Southampton or one of the other clubs with a similar model, and actually get your move when you want it?

A bit oversimplified - Brighton's primary objective is to remain in the Premier League and to sell their best players cheaply without replacements is not really on the agenda. Given this aim the non-events unfolding was predictable and predicted by me in earlier messages. It did not take a rocket scientist to work out, just to ignore the fiction.

 

[Keepingthefaithsince1976]

Sorry misread what you said, we certainly should not have let Zincheko leave without a signing coming in (LB)

It may already be so. Lots of newspaper speculation but zero news from the club. Who saw Dias coming? I trust the club and their methods.

 

[Mr Blue Moon]

We didn’t want him anyway ;-)

 

[moomba]

As for whether Brightons approach could affect future transfers, it may although if Cucarella gets his move at the end I don't think it will have too much impact.

Don't really care if it does or doesnt to be honest, they can run their club how they see fit.

 

[Erling9]

Chavs genuinely getting rinsed and the clown brighton owner keeps shifting goal posts, you love to see it!

 

[TheThirdDeano]

imagine my surpise that the man who held out for 50mil from people who were refusing to pay it, is now asking for more from the people who straight away said they'd meet it.
It's almost like txiki probably had the right idea by being obtuse in the negotiations

 

[Jwoody19]

I genuinely think its just not our market.
We either sign ready to go first teamers that will keep us at the top or we sign youth players that can do 1-2 years in EDS or at a CFG club before selling them on for profit.

We don’t look at “bargains” because they are a risk no matter what. £15m is a bloody big risk to take if you arent certain they’ll be good enough. Put 2 or 3 in and the squad quality starts to drop off affecting training, reducing opportunities to EDS, filling spaces for future signings etc.

Brighton or similar can do it because a £15m player is likely to improve their squad or at least not weaken it and gives them upside if he delivers.

I think you're right, I suppose the "bigger" clubs scouting pool will be aimed at the ready made elite player. BHA's circumstances probably mean that they look to the £10-15m bracket players more than we do. Less of a risk for them than for a team challenging - perhaps even with a view to profit if they over perform.

Just confuses me that 1 season can see a player marked up that much. Imagine what the likes of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Micah Richards would have been worth to pre takeover City in today's money. We'd have made a fortune.

 

[richards30]

I wish we were! Seems one step forward (Haaland and Alvarez, finally proper strikers!) but one step back (only two full backs, one of whom can’t really defend)!

Walker and Cancelo are going to have to stay fit and play an awful lot of games this season. Stones is shit at RB and Aké not great at LB.

Hopefully the club is still looking for at least one pacy full back that can actually tackle during the rest of this transfer window. Can’t believe Pep thinks it’s a good idea going for four trophies with the defence so vulnerable to just one player injury.

yeah what started with a bang has certainly been countered by the sales of sterling, jesus and zinny with their experience and depth on the bench when required?

 

[Nicholas van Whatsisface]

A bit oversimplified - Brighton's primary objective is to remain in the Premier League and to sell their best players cheaply without replacements is not really on the agenda. Giving this aim the non-events unfolding was predictable and predicted by me in earlier messages. It did not take a rocket scientist to work out, just to ignore the fiction.

Cheaply?

I’m not sure the rest of your post holds much credibility when you include such an absurd claim within it!

But fair enough - you think it’s excellent squad management, I think it’s ego-driven short-termism.

The one thing that’s indisputable is that it’s not City’s problem anymore - which is a huge relief - so I’m happy to let go of whether this will impact Brighton’s transfer dealings in the future.

Frankly I couldn’t give a fuck if it does.

 

[Jwoody19]

We didn't have a need for a LB last year.

You wouldn't have taken a LB last year - especially with the Mendy situation? Cancelo was and is a fantastic player but we could have been an injury away from having Ake there long term.

 

[MillisleBlue]

I thought the refereeing was normal for us in Europe.
We should be used to it by now.
We had that game won without the ‘odd’ refereeing. We threw it away ourselves. I think we are mentally weak this season and have shown this in several games.
We cannot see out games like we used to.
Kev is only at about 70% levels we are used to. He constantly looks like he’s blowing and his radar has been off all season and last season when he was off, we had Gundogan to step into the breach. This season his legs look gone. We have no pace in midfield at all and Rodri good as he is, cannot do it on his own.
We lack the leadership to keep everyone focused like Vinnie used to do.
When we are good we are very good but when we step back down to 2nd or 3rd gear we cannot game manage and blow our advantage.

Add to that the fact we squander so many gilt edged chances and it makes it a long tough season with no let up. No breathers.

I think there are a few mentally weak players in the squad. I won’t single anyone out and kick them when we’re down but the squad is not as strong as it may have seemed.

Apart from that, we’re doing quite well.
Just win our next five games by hook or by crook and regroup.

Mustn’t grumble.

imagine my surpise that the man who held out for 50mil from people who were refusing to pay it, is now asking for more from the people who straight away said they'd meet it.
It's almost like txiki probably had the right idea by being obtuse in the negotiations

Looks like Chelsea have shown their hand way way too early and Broom now has them by the short n curlies.

 

[Lost in space]

I get the impression Cucu is gonna be stuck in Brighton the way mr Bloom is holding him for ransom

 

[bluemoon32]

I get the impression Cucu is gonna be stuck in Brighton the way mr Bloom is holding him for ransom

In fairness, he was happy enough to sign a contract for them so tough shit really